{"id":88797,"date":"2013-11-03T08:06:00","date_gmt":"2013-11-03T07:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/?guid=7e885b9ea1ff293e11bb05d2f1b744ff"},"modified":"2013-11-03T08:06:00","modified_gmt":"2013-11-03T07:06:00","slug":"iraq-today-americas-genocidal-legacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/editorials\/iraq-today-americas-genocidal-legacy\/","title":{"rendered":"Iraq Today: America’s Genocidal Legacy"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Iraq Today: America’s Genocidal Legacy<\/b><\/div>\n
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by Stephen Lendman<\/div>\n
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America came to Iraq to stay. Contingents of US forces remain. America’s embassy cost over a billion dollars to build. It’s the world’s largest.<\/div>\n
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It’s inside Baghdad’s Green Zone. It includes 21 buildings. Extraordinary security measures protect them. They’re on 104 acres of land. It’s the equivalent of 80 football fields.<\/div>\n
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Democracy is verboten. So-called liberation is a convenient illusion. Iraq was ravaged and destroyed. Daily violence rages out-of-control. Unemployment, poverty and human misery are extreme. <\/div>\n
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An epidemic of birth defects, cancer and other war related diseases plague the country. So do tens of thousands of US and other Western private military contractors, advisors and security personnel.<\/div>\n
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At issue is controlling the region’s oil, gas, other strategic resources as well as economic policy and politics. <\/div>\n
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America’s imperial legacy reflects destroying the cradle of civilization. Pre-1990 Iraq no longer exists. Charnel house conditions replaced it.<\/div>\n
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Over two decades of war, sanctions, and occupation wrecked Iraq’s ecosystem. Scores of pollutants contaminate vast parts of country’s soil and water. <\/div>\n
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They include depleted and enriched uranium, benzene and other harmful chemicals, toxic metals, oil, bacteria and other poisons.<\/div>\n
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One hundred Paul Bremer orders raped Iraq. They turned it into a cutthroat free-market laboratory. Inside the bubble is paradise. Outside is hell. Basic services for the vast majority of Iraqis don’t exist. <\/div>\n
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Pillaging on the grandest of grand scales continues. Iraq remains a virtual US colony. Its sovereign independence is gone. <\/div>\n
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Gideon Polya maintains body count numbers. War related deaths come from violence, starvation, preventable diseases, poverty and neglect. Apocalyptic conditions follow.<\/div>\n
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Polya defines avoidable mortality as “the difference between actual deaths in a country and (those) expected for a peaceful, decently governed (one) with the same demographics.”<\/div>\n
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On the 10th anniversary<\/span><\/a> of Washington’s invasion, he said Iraqi deaths from sanctions, violence, and violently-imposed deprivation since 1990 totaled 4.6 million. <\/div>\n
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Extinguishing human lives on this massive a scale constitutes genocide. <\/div>\n
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Article II of the Genocide Convention defines it as including “any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:<\/div>\n
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(a) Killing members of the group;<\/div>\n
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(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;<\/div>\n
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(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;<\/div>\n
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(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;<\/div>\n
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(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.” <\/div>\n
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In stark contrast to “science-based estimates,” said Polya, imperial liars and complicit media scoundrels lowball numbers disgracefully. <\/div>\n
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They practically ignore daily violence and horrific conditions. Millions of internally and externally displaced refugees don’t matter. Washington’s full responsibility gets no coverage. <\/div>\n
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Some of the greatest ever crimes of war and against humanity are airbrushed from history. They continue daily out of sight and mind. No end game suggests relief.<\/div>\n
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Puppet Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki serves at America’s pleasure. His tenure began in May 2006. His longevity reflects his subservience.<\/div>\n
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On November 1, he arrived in Washington. He did so hat in hand. Oval office photos with Obama followed. Earlier ones showed him with Bush. A duplicitous joint statement<\/span><\/a> said in part:<\/div>\n
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“In their meeting today at the White House, President Obama and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki reaffirmed the strategic partnership between the United States and the Republic of Iraq and pledged to advance common interests to support a stable, secure, and prosperous Iraq and Middle East.”<\/div>\n
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“Since most US forces redeployed nearby in the region, both countries “entered a new phase of their relationship, based on mutual respect and a shared commitment to build a strategic partnership between two sovereign nations.”  <\/div>\n
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“They recalled the thousands of Americans and Iraqis who have given their lives in our common fight against terrorism and extremism in Iraq.”  <\/div>\n
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“The President and Prime Minister renewed their determination to honor the memory and sacrifice of those killed by strengthening our joint long-term strategic partnership across the fields covered by the SFA, including security, diplomacy, trade, education, energy, culture, science, and justice.”<\/div>\n
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Obama calls Iraq an emerging democracy. Bush said its future reflects a “beacon of democracy.” Reality reveals otherwise. High-minded rhetoric rings hollow. <\/div>\n
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Iraq is a failed state. It’s totally dysfunctional. Basic services and security don’t exist. Corruption and daily violence are out-of-control.<\/div>\n
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Hopes for eventual stability and prosperity are ill-founded. Destroying the cradle of civilization created a blank slate. Iraq, Inc. replaced it.<\/div>\n
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Chicago School fundamentalism rules run things. US corporations got first dibs. Bremer orders institutionalized plunder. Occupation harshness persists.<\/div>\n
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Today’s Iraq reflects everything wrong with imperial wars, colonization, and predatory capitalist ruthlessness. Ordinary Iraqis are entirely shut out. They’re on their own, out of luck, sink or swim.<\/div>\n
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Survival is their problem. Shock and awe, invasion, occupation, and rapid transformation from what was to what is killed millions.<\/div>\n
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Survivors struggle to get by. Doing so isn’t easy. Many don’t make it. Puppet governance masquerades as legitimate. <\/div>\n
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America calls the shots on what matters most. Maliki and other stooges do it bidding. Failure assures replicating Saddam’s fate. White House photo-ops reward subservience.<\/div>\n
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George Bush said America came to Iraq “to plant seeds of democracy.” Ghoulish dystopia reflects today’s reality. <\/div>\n
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Iraq is a violent dysfunctional wasteland. Nightmarish conditions exist. Washington bears full responsibility. Multiple car bombings occur almost daily.<\/div>\n
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July was the bloodiest month since 2008. Violence killed over 1,000. Over 2,300 others were wounded. Maliki’s response is severe repression.<\/div>\n
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Thousands of suspected regime opponents are imprisoned uncharged. Torture and other forms of abuse follow. Mass arrests continue.<\/div>\n
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According to Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, Iraq and Afghanistan are America’s most expensive wars by far. <\/div>\n
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No one knows when they’ll end. No one can determine their final cost. From what’s known to date, up to $6 trillion may be spent. Costs go way beyond combat.<\/div>\n
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Externalities include longterm medical care, disability and survivor benefits, interest on debt related to war and occupation, as well as other social, economic and political costs.<\/div>\n
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War doesn’t come cheap. Multiple ones are hugely expensive. Waging them one after another sacrifices other budget priorities. <\/div>\n
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Most US resources go for militarism, aggression, corporate handouts, and homeland police state harshness.<\/div>\n
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Social America is being destroyed. It’s to maintain what demands condemnation. Bipartisan complicity is turning the nation into a dystopian backwater. It’s being thirdworldized. <\/div>\n
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Perhaps it’ll end up like Iraq. October exceeded July’s violence. Deadly car bombings killed over 1,000. Thousands more were wounded.<\/div>\n
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Fear, human misery and deprivation grip the country. Normalcy is nonexistent. Bloodshed, insecurity, and extreme repression reflect daily life. Obama wants Maliki to crack down harder.<\/div>\n
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New York Times editors march in lockstep with America’s imperial agenda. They supported the Gulf war, years of genocidal sanctions, Bush’s shock and awe lawlessness, and occupation that followed.<\/div>\n
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They’ve done so unapologetically. On November 1, they headlined<\/span><\/a> “Can Iraq Be Saved?”<\/div>\n
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Maliki came to Washington looking for help. Times editors blame him for ongoing turmoil. True enough for complicity with America.<\/div>\n
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Times editors pointed fingers the wrong way. Bush and Obama administrations bear full responsibility. Maliki does what he’s told.<\/div>\n
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According to Times editors, Iraq might be safer with more US troops on the ground. Their arrival instigated what’s now ongoing.<\/div>\n
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“(T)here is no reason to trust Maliki unless he adopts a more inclusive approach to governing and ensures that next April’s election will be fair and democratic,” they said.<\/div>\n
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Reality is polar opposite. America deplores democracy. Iraq has none for sure. Ordinary people have no say. <\/div>\n
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America decides who runs things. Strings are pulled in Washington. Maliki’s in charge as long as he remembers who’s boss. Don’t expect Times editors to explain.<\/div>\n
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Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. <\/div>\n
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His new book is titled “Banker Occupation: Waging Financial War on Humanity.”<\/div>\n
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http:\/\/www.claritypress.com\/LendmanII.html<\/div>\n
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Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com. <\/div>\n
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Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.<\/div>\n
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It airs Fridays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.<\/div>\n
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http:\/\/www.progressiveradionetwork.com\/the-progressive-news-hour\\<\/div>\n
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http:\/\/www.dailycensored.com\/iraq-today-americas-genocidal-legacy\/<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Iraq Today: America’s Genocidal Legacyby Stephen LendmanAmerica came to Iraq to stay. Contingents of US forces remain. America’s embassy cost over a billion dollars to build. It’s the world’s largest.It’s inside Baghdad’s Green Zone. It includes 21 bui…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1217,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[461],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-88797","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-editorials"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88797","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1217"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88797"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88797\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88797"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88797"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88797"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}